1979 Chevy Pickup Suspension - Father Knows Best

Choosing And Safety-Prepping A Teenager's First Vehicle

When you raise a son who turns out great in every respect, your mind wrestles with a myriad of legitimate concerns when it comes time to put him in his first vehicle. In this case, we've got a model young man who just turned 15 years old, and knows exactly how many days remain until he's able to drive. He's been raised around world-class street rods, NHRA Championship Drag Racing, and off roading. The family has long been into motorized activities like quad runners, dirt bikes, and even boating. You could say this kid's been a gearhead for about all of his 15 years.

Now, Dad has owned just about every type of Chevy (or GMC) light truck imaginable, sporting each style of cab configuration. His choice for everyday transportation is a late-model Chevy extended cab, though he also owns a crew cab set up for serious towing, as well as a Suburban. The options for "Junior's first ride" were numerous. Early musclecars were considered, as were some late-model varieties, and then, the whole picture became clearer by the day. Every consideration came under scrutiny-overall vehicle safety, initial cost, practicality, ease of maintenance, the all-important "cool factor," and the price of yearly insurance premiums.

Browsing the used-vehicle market, the wise choice turned out to be this '79 Chevy 10-Series pickup, and here's why. The initial cost was $2,500. In Southern California, that's not a bad price for a reasonably clean truck with lots of potential. From the crash-worthy perspective, understand the size of this truck, the fact that it's got a complete chassis (as opposed to today's unibody cars), and realize it'll only cost $1,200 per year to insure with a young driver in the seat. Those are all valid concerns. Here, the family in question is not about to cut corners, or make any compromises whatsoever, in its quest to put this kid in traffic. He's already earned the privilege to drive, and he fully understands (and appreciates) why his folks were totally committed to making the right decisions in his behalf.

Timing had a lot to do with this purchase, as well. Dad wanted to make darn sure there was no rush to freshen it up, and plenty of lead time to ensure that all systems were completely road ready. Having been through a few owners, first on the list was returning it to California smog-legal status. Next, a complete suspension and brake rebuild was sorely needed. After all, a neglected front suspension results in lots of play in the steering wheel, coupled with unnecessary tire wear, and general driveability problems. This thing had to drive (and feel) like a new truck. Again, we stress the importance of timing. Don't wait until the last minute and wind up putting your kid in a vehicle that's not 110-percent road worthy. There's just too much at stake. While the anticipation may drive him crazy, he'll come to appreciate why you took such a methodical approach.

MORE PHOTOS

VIEW FULL GALLERY

xclose

1979 Chevy Pickup Suspension - Father Knows Best

With a complete brake upgrade and suspension rebuild on tap, it's best to remove the brakes and spindles as complete assemblies. Then, you'll have easy access to the springs, control arms, ball joints, tie rods, drag link, etc.

This shot reveals what kind of life this young guy's truck has had.

"Installation Jason" Scudellari, the Primedia Tech Center "Wrench Twister," dropped the beefy lower control arms and sent them to the local auto parts store to have our new PST bushings pressed on.

Later that day, we continued by replacing the new lower ball joint and decided to bolt on the control arms, before removing the uppers.

A few zips of the impact wrench and the upper arms were ready for disassembly. Since they're a little less bulky than the lowers, we opted to swap out all the pieces in the shop, instead of sending them out.

Jason removed the nuts on either end of the shaft, though that's the easy part.

Would you want your 16-year-old kid driving a vehicle with ball joints that look like this? Yeah, we thought not.

We always have some JB (Justice Brothers) chemicals around the Tech Center, and a few shots of JB 80 helps loosen rusted parts, protects metal from corrosion, and eliminates squeaks.

Jason found that his air chisel worked well for removing the bushings. After being soaked with JB 80, and alternating the pressure from one side to the other, the task went smoothly.

If you're doing a similar job on a vehicle that's had little or no maintenance, remove scale and corrosion from the bushing shaft with a wire wheel or at least, a handheld wire brush.

Since this truck had original ball joints, Jason got a grinding disc to remove the old joint's attaching rivets. He ground down the heads of the rivets, and drove the shanks out with a hammer and punch.

Next, a little mild persuasion was necessary to separate the ball joint from its 25-year resting place.

Again, out came the grinding disc to properly clean the ball joint's mating surface.

The new PST ball joints simply bolt in place. Just be careful not to damage the grease boots while you're working.

The new bushings were driven in place, making sure they were seated far enough into the control arms. As a word of caution, these bushings can be pressed in, if you have access to a standard shop press. However, we're not in the habit of doing them on a regular basis, and don't have all the correct fixtures to secure the arms and line everything up. You'll find that control arms are awkward to keep steady (and properly aligned).

PST's Lowering Springs ought to get this pickup sitting rather righteous.

With the rebuilt upper control arm bolted in place, the spring and new PST spindle came next.

All the brackets and hardware are supplied with the PST brake package.

Always use your old tie rods for length reference when assembling the new ones. Set your new assembly as close to the original length as possible, that way, the front end won't be too far out of whack when you drive it to the alignment shop.

One at a time, continue with your life-sized puzzle pieces.

The caliper assemblies bolt right to the previously installed brackets, and your new brake lines are a snap to swap out, as well.

PST's G-Max front sway bar adds a great deal more control and stability, and requires just a slight amount of work to bolt in place of the smaller-diameter original.

The brackets require drilling a hole in the front edge of each lower control arm.

Moving on to the back, you can easily see that this truck had a long-standing problem with leaking rearend fluid. You may also notice this one sports a heavy-duty rear axle package, so it's equipped with a Dana rear, even though it's only a 10-Series truck. On either side of the center section there's a factory weld that mates the actual center housing to the axle tubes. Somehow (like abuse maybe?), both welds were cracked, and gear oil leaked like crazy. Speaking of crazy, somebody tried to epoxy the welds-didn't work too well, though.

Once you strip the OEM brake assemblies, you'll be half-way home (well, almost).

Inside the housing, remove the lock bolt that holds the pinion shaft in place.

Then, you'll be able to slide the shaft free.

And finally, you'll remove the axle's "C-clip," and ultimately, slide the axle out. The old brake backing plate will be your last obstacle before installing the new PST rear disc conversion package.

It's not a bad idea to replace the axle seals. They're not supplied, but easy to change, and you'll appreciate the peace of mind.

At this stage, it's just a matter of reassembly.

Your rear calipers feature a single 45mm piston, and integral parking brake assembly. Once they're tightened to the mounting brackets, all that remains are your fluid lines.

Next, it was time to tackle those old, stock springs.

The U-bolts securing the springs to the rear axle will likely take the most muscle to remove. But, a long, half-inch breaker bar, and/or a length of pipe (for more leverage) should be all that's needed.

PST's 4-inch rear lowering springs feature less than half the amount of leafs (over stock) and they're engineered with less arch, as well.

PST custom tailors the proper lowering shocks for each application, also. Though we missed our photo-op of the fronts being installed, the change-over is simple, no matter which end of the vehicle you're working on.

Finally, this hot hauler gets a G-Max rear sway bar, as well. According to the instructions, drill two holes in the frame rail on each side.

The new holes secure your saddle (or C-clamp), bushings, and sway bar to the chassis.

Then, your end links and bushings bolt together. The lower bushings (not visible) are seated to a small bracket that bolts to the spring mounting pad.

Now, everybody knows you can't send a cool kid out in traffic without a cool set of wheels and tires. In this case, a set of Cragar Forged Alloys (18x8) from Weld Racing complemented the look of this truck perfectly. Our friends at Anaheim Wheel Center mounted and balanced this new set of Nitto NT404 Extreme Force radials. We settled on 255/55R18s, front and rear.

You have to admit, this high school hot rod looks great. Once we install an interior kit, some weatherstripping, and a few cosmetics, this puppy will be better than new

Read more as leading suspension manufacturers explain how a few simple suspension bolt-ons can take Ti-Five Chevys to the next level here at www.chevyhiperformance.com the official website of Chevy High Performance Magazine » Read More

Check out this 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle! Jerry Jackson and his sons, Joel and Jerid, restored this Chevy together. The Jacksons were even invited to the Gold Class at the Ennis Super Chevy Show in 2010. » Read More